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Updated: Apr 9, 2026

Atom Probe Tomography Analysis of Exsolved Mineral Phases
Published on: October 25, 2019
C12/C13-ratio determination in nanodiamonds by atom-probe tomography
Josiah B Lewis1, Dieter Isheim2, Christine Floss1
1Laboratory for Space Sciences, Physics Department, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Abstract:
The astrophysical origins of ∼ 3 nm-diameter meteoritic nanodiamonds can be inferred from the ratio of C12/C13. It is essential to achieve high spatial and mass resolving power and minimize all sources of signal loss in order to obtain statistically significant measurements. We conducted atom-probe tomography on meteoritic nanodiamonds embedded between layers of Pt. We describe sample preparation, atom-probe tomography analysis, 3D reconstruction, and bias correction. We present new data from meteoritic nanodiamonds and terrestrial standards and discuss methods to correct isotopic measurements made with the atom-probe tomograph.
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